Swift Transportation $3.6M Overtime Pay Settlement Approved

A California federal judge has recently approved a $3.6 million settlement for an overtime pay class action lawsuit, which will settle a number of alleged state and federal labor violations.

The wage and hour class action lawsuit was brought forward by 41 customer service representatives of Swift Transportation Co., claiming they were not receiving proper overtime pay despite working over 40 hours per week, a violation of the Fair Labor Standards Act.

Even though the employees were paid their salaries, but the company violated overtime laws by not adequately compensating their employees.

U.S. District Judge Andre Birotte Jr. is presiding over this wage and hour class action lawsuit and approved the overtime pay settlement.

“Having reviewed the plaintiffs’ submissions and having held a settlement hearing on May 2, 2016, and there being no opposition to the settlements, the court finds that the agreements represent a fair and reasonable settlement of bona fide disputes,” Judge Birotte wrote in a two-page order.

Judge Birotte also approved attorneys’ fees of $1.2 million, along with $31,000 and $10,000 for out of pocket costs and service award respectively.

The service award was named to plaintiff Lorraine Flores, who had filed the wage and hour class action lawsuit claiming violations of overtime pay laws.

Swift Transportation had tried to have the claim dismissed, stating that it lacked an adequate plaintiff class size and that there was no sufficient evidence.

Judge Birotte denied the dismissal movements, and granted conditional certification of the class action in October 2014 after concluding that Flores had established a clear pattern of improper overtime pay allegations with each member.

Overview of California Overtime Pay Laws

Under California overtime laws, non exempt employees must be paid at one and half times the regular hourly rate if the employee worked beyond eight hours in a single day or over 40 hours in a single week.

California overtime pay also applies to the first eight hours on the seventh consecutive day of the work week, and requires the employees hourly rate to be doubled if they work over 12 hours in a single work day.

In addition, California employees must also be compensated any missed meal breaks or rest periods along with any off the clock work.

California minimum wage was raised to $9.00 on July 01, 2014, with the hourly rate and overtime pay applying to all non exempt employees.

Exempt employees include outside sales representatives and contractors, and are not subject to the same overtime pay under California overtime laws.

The Swift Transportation Overtime Pay Class Action Lawsuit is Lorraine Flores v. Swift Transportation Co. et al., Case No. 2:14-cv-02900, in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California.

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